Bula's Grand Prix Motorcycle World Champinship of the World 1949-75 gives a different basis for assessing the number of counting rounds: "The calculation was done from placings obtained in half the number of events plus one. If there was an odd number of events, a further one was added, and the resulting number divided by two.... An extra point was awarded to the rider who had achieved the fastest lap."This seems to suggest that four rounds would count for the 500 title, three for the 350 and 250, and two for the 125 and Sidecar.And while I'm here - Syd Jensen please, not Sid ;)

I'm having a little bit of a hangover, so I'm not going too deep into this today, but one thing I noticed is the date of the TT races - they can't have been all on the same day! Usually, they were two days apart each, with the Junior event first, then Lightweight and Senior. Sometimes there were rain/fog delays, and two events may have been run on the same day, but I don't think they ever ran three (main) races in one day.

It's "Sid Jensen" in the Büla and Haefliger books. But if a New Zealander says "Syd" that should be trustworthy.

Büla gives "17 June" for all three TT races as does Haefliger for the 250 and 500 cc classes (no detailed statistics for 350 cc class there!). But Morrison says "13 - 15 June" without specifying which class ran on which day.

BTW, according to Ian Morrison the fastest 500 cc lap at the Mountain circuit was actually achieved by Bob Foster (Moto Guzzi) who didn’t get the extra point because he didn’t finish the race. Morrison gives a speed of 89,75 mph (144,44 km/h) which translates into a time of 25.13,4 min.

In a similar way the fastest 500 cc lap at Bern was actually achieved by Ted Frend (AJS). Strangely Morrison gives a speed of 90,00 mph (144.84 km/h) which is slower than the speed attributed to Les Graham’s fastest lap.

I'm afraid you mixed up Cromie McCandless with Rex McCandless at the Ulster GP. They were brothers, Rex the elder one, Cromie the younger one. I think it was in fact Rex in 6th place in Belfast.

Also Les Graham's 6th place finish in Monza seems unlikely to me. According to "25 Jahre Motorrad-WM" by Helmut Krackowizer & Mick Woollett (p. 58) Graham was fighting for the lead with Carlo Bandirola who fell, his Gilera skidding into Graham's AJS causing him to go down, too.

I have a book also written by Mick Woollet titled something like Racing Motorcycles which deals with the early days and up to around 1980s.....we are painting atm but I will try and lay my hands on it.....

Source was Maurice Bula, "Continental Circus". I'm afraid I haven't done much research about motorcycle racing lately, so I'm under no illusion about the possible defects of my info. What I know is that Bula's info certainly isn't beyond doubt!

Originally posted by fines Source was Maurice Bula, "Continental Circus".

That is puzzling me!

As I mentioned before I have the 2001 edition of that book (covering 1949 - 2000) and it contains - despite the promise on the rear cover ("Alle Kategorien, alle Rennen, alle Ergebnisse") - only the points scoring results. Therefore no 6th places in 1949.

Do you have another edition?

Originally posted by 275 GTB-4 I have a book also written by Mick Woollet titled something like Racing Motorcycles which deals with the early days and up to around 1980s.....

That should be the same book.

My Krackowizer /Woollett book is the 1975 German-language edition of Woollett's "Racing Motor Cycles" from 1973, updated by Krackowizer.

As I mentioned before I have the 2001 edition of that book (covering 1949 - 2000) and it contains - despite the promise on the rear cover ("Alle Kategorien, alle Rennen, alle Ergebnisse") - only the points scoring results. Therefore no 6th places in 1949.

Do you have another edition?

Yes, 1973 I think - there's also a 1983 edition. Unfortunately, many years ago when I was loaned both these books, I copied the content but neglected to copy the bibliographical info!

I have just acquired a copy of The Motor Cycle with a report of the Dutch TT. It has Ted Frend getting the fastest lap in the 350s at a tad over 88mph. I've seen Freddie Frith's name quoted in other places, but I'm fairly certain this can't be a misprint because in another part of the magazine, it mentions Frith having scored fastest laps in the first two races, rather than the first three. Unfortunately, it's not a full set of results but it lists the first twelve in all three classes that raced. You also get the odd reference to other starters (such as Lo Simons), but it neglects to mention them any further.

I don't have detailed info, but from the text I can ascertain the following. There were 40 starters in the 350cc race. Including the following not listed previously.

George Morrison AUS ?Rod Coleman NZ ? - "New Zealand's chances sank when Rod Coleman ran out of road at the last bend before the start. Fortunately he was unhurt."Les Graham GBR AJS - "But Graham's effort was short-lived. His engine developed a misfire and, on lap 9, he retired."Harold Daniell GBR NortonBill Doran GBR AJS - "The contest for first place lost its tingling intensity when Doran fell at Laaghalerveen corner. Apart from a broken footrest, there was no damage to rider or machine."Ken Bills GBR ?

The fastest lap was by Ted Frend at 88.03 mph.

Enrico Lorenzetti was scheduled to compete in both the 350 and 500 races, but withdrew from the 350s.

A picture shows that Bob Foster had the race number 53 and Frith 52 in the 350s.

I recently acquired a book called "The Racing Year" by G. S. Davison and it's got info I didn't previously have. It's got a lot about the Ulster Grand Prix, so I'll try and detail the important bits here. The finishers listed are the only finishers of each race.

"Entries were slightly down on those of the previous year - 35 in the Senior, 48 in the Junior and 23 in the Lightweight, a total of 106 as against 111 in 1948. There were of course a few non-starters, most notable of whom were Enrico Lorenzetti (Guzzi), winner of the 1948 Senior, A Meile (Gilera) and both Nigel Spring's 500 Velocettes, in the Senior class; F. Anderson (Guzzi) in the Junior; and F. Balzarotti (Guzzi) and Dario Ambrosini (Benelli) in the Lightweight."

"As usual there were two evening Practice periods on the Wednesday and Thursday before the race. The roads were wet on the first evening, and most riders were familiarizing themselves with the course, taking plug readings and making final decisions on carburetter settings, gear ratios and the like..."

Also from the book - "...Barrington, Balzarotti and Ambrosini all non-starters..."

"...Maurice Cann did the hat-trick, by winning it for the third year in succession. Barrington, after his fast lap on the Thursday evening, injured his shoulder in a crash at Clady and Maurice took over his machine."

"Roland Pike was still running a gallant third at half distance... If Roland could have kept up that speed he would have finished second but he packed up after the ninth lap and Mead came into third place.

"There were 35 entries, but only 26 starters and the following, to take them in alphabetical order of makes, were the "possible winners": A.J.S., Bill Doran, Les Graham and Jock West; Gilera, Artesiani, Bandirola, Fusini and Pagani; Guzzi, Bertacchini and Bob Foster; Norton, Artie Bell, Harold Daniell and Johnnie Lockett."

Bob Foster ran out of fuel on the eighth lap.On the last lap, Artesiani's carburetter packed up only a few miles from the finish.